What does a state, a group, an individual have the “right” to do in a state of war?
Talking about international or humanitarian law always seems a little trivial in the midst of bombs and rockets, and perhaps this time even more so. It is a law without police, almost impossible to impose, except by victorious states at the end of conflicts. And even.
But humanity has found nothing better to set out a standard of acceptable behavior in the bloody chaos. To draw some kind of line that should never be crossed, even if it’s a line in the sand.
If there were only one rule, it would be the protection of civilians.
However, the first act of this war was the October 7 massacre by Hamas.
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Israeli army soldiers examine the remains of vehicles at the festival site targeted by Hamas on October 7 in Kibbutz Reim.
That Hamas considers each Israeli personally an “enemy” and a soldier to be killed serves as its pretext. But that doesn’t change anything either: targeting civilians in an armed conflict is a violation of the laws of war in all circumstances. Of the 1,200 people killed by Hamas in Israel, 80% were civilians.
We must emphasize the extreme cruelty of these mass murders. Despite the sinister impression of déjà vu, the massacre of October 7 has another dimension, in the number of victims and the nature of the crimes.
Parents killed in front of their children, babies murdered, people burned alive, beheadings, rapes. Even if one tried to legitimize Hamas by giving it the status of an army, not a single one of these assassinations is justified, regardless of the past injustices in whose name they were committed.
PHOTO DOR KEDMI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israelis take shelter after hearing warning sirens in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv.
There is no war that is not fought in the name of justice, for a wrong to be righted. The root or immediate causes of a conflict must be understood, obviously. We can go back to the creation of Israel, the dispossession of Palestinian lands, and well before. But that doesn’t help us determine what is or isn’t a war crime.
Killing children is a war crime in all circumstances. No historical explanation will alleviate its extreme seriousness.
These crimes are not over. Hamas is reported to be holding around a hundred civilian hostages – which is another war crime: we are not talking about prisoners of war here.
Just as an individual under attack has the right to use force to defend himself, a state can use military self-defense. This is what Israel is doing by wanting to destroy the Islamist organization which aims for the destruction of Israel.
This is what any state would do when faced with such a threat. This is what the Americans did in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, helped by several countries including Canada. This was accompanied by several violations of international law, including conventions on the treatment of prisoners, and was followed by the illegal invasion of Iraq under false pretexts. But the attack on Taliban-backed Afghan terrorist bases was itself an act of self-defense.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man helps an injured woman evacuate the scene after an Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
As in criminal law, the response to an attack must be “proportionate”, not unlimited. The Jewish state has often been criticized for the lack of restraint in recent conflicts, whether in a massive military response to Hamas attacks in Gaza, or in attacking Lebanon in response to Hezbollah attacks in 2006, killing numerous civilian casualties and causing enormous damage to several vital infrastructures.
The massacres of October 7, as I have just said, are of unprecedented scale. They are widely described in Israel as the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
The words of the Israeli government leave no doubt: what is being prepared to “eradicate” Hamas from the Gaza Strip will be equally unprecedented.
Already, hospitals and major infrastructure have been bombed. Civilian victims are killed indiscriminately. This too is contrary to international law.
Just like threatening to kill Israeli hostages in retaliation.
Ordering the evacuation in 24 hours of 1.1 million Palestinians who have nowhere to take refuge makes no sense and is already creating the beginnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. This will not make legitimate the death of civilians or the destruction of all buildings in the territory under evacuation order at the end of this too short period.
Especially since Hamas opposes this evacuation and it is reported that Palestinians are prevented from fleeing by militants.
In the midst of war, all this does not resolve this conflict which appears to have no outcome or any injustice. There is no peace on the horizon, and it is unclear who could or would negotiate it or on what terms.
We must still start by naming the crimes. Recalling these common standards of humanity is also a way for other countries to put pressure on them. To save as many lives as possible.